Who Really Needs Stiff Steel Shafts in Irons?

 One of the pleasures of golf for me is feeling the flex of a shaft on the downswing and that whoosh as it kicks through  and releases a large part of the energy which one has put into it.

After decades of often thinking about returning to golf (after making the mistake as a 15  year old of giving it up in order to concentrate on athletics) I finally took the plunge around Christmas 2006 and invested in a second hand set of lady’s clubs - bought at a local auction for £22. I played with those clubs for a few months and for the very first time felt the kick of irons as those beautifully soft graphite shafts surged through.

No-one ever experienced that in the 1960s as all we had was very inflexible steel. Before becoming distracted by Long Drive I decided that I would like to play well again and invested in a set of Mizuno MP-32s.  Initially they were far too demanding,  but I knew that if I worked hard they would become my best friend. Like most golfers I did  insufficient  research before buying, and to some extent relied on popular expert advice, and in particular  that a fast swing speed demanded the use of stiff shafts. Utter tosh! To hits irons well, and be able to finely adjust distance, only 80% of power is necessary and thus really fast swing speeds are largely an anathema.

As a Long Drive competitor I heavily rely on the correct shaft flex to get the ball in the air. Expressed simply, the driver head loft is only the trajectory’s final  tuning mechanism. But of course with irons one principally relies on head loft  with shafts only playing the smallest of parts in ball trajectory. Nevertheless although my new irons performed magnificently when I properly struck the ball I was bitterly disappointed with their Dynamic Gold S300 steel shafts. Not that there was anything wrong with their manufacture, simply that I now found myself playing with 'broom handles' which produced absolutely no discernible flexing and kick through.  I was again playing my irons a la 1966!

I question whether or not I should be experiencing that amazing feeling of flex and kick with my irons?  Why not? The extra distance gained from energy return is not needed by me, but I can imagine that many other golfers would welcome it.Unfortunately it was not thoughts of joy which brought about my internal musings but pain:

I tend to only practice driving, wedge play and putting and when I have a wedge in my hands I do tend to hit down into the ball and create a large divot.Having only very recently recovered from a left wrist injury caused by repetitive jarring from hitting deep into the turf  (it took well over a year to get over) I now have more tendon damage just below the elbow joint caused by the same thing. The S300 shafts fail to adequately absorb shock impact and as a result shock waves travel into my  left arm, as I am a right handed golfer. This is potentially far worse if one uses blades and fails to centre the ball on the head. Beware!

So, maybe one day (finances permitting) I will replace my stiff steel S300s with a set a medium flexing graphite shafts and once again enjoy the immense pleasure of the kick of an iron. It is a joy which I suspect that few golfers have experienced due to using shafts which are arguably far far too stiff.

I appreciate that I regularly see golf in an upsidedown way to the golfing industry but it usually works for me.